Danida alumni and former DTU student works to develop and improve the aquaculture industry back in Tanzania as well as in Denmark. In 2015, he graduated with the MSc Programme in Aquatic Science and Technology at DTU. Since then, he has been employed as a scientific assistant at DTU Aqua in 2017 and in 2020.
Jigme Dorji, Bhutan: Where happiness and business interests meet
October 06, 2016
By Vibeke Quaade
Thimphu/Copenhagen. Studying business was not a coincidence for Jigme Dorji. He always knew that the business route was the direction he wanted to follow.
Business is the backbone of a country. A government can be as good as it can be, but if it does not have a sustainable revenue streams, it has nothing to build its systems on, says 31 years old Jigme Dorji.
Happiness a success criteria
Jigme Dorji is from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan famed for it’s Gross National Happiness and using this development philosophy as a national success indicator over Gross Development Product.
Bhutan is also known for taking a holistic route towards development where the preservation on the environment, culture, socio-economic development and good government is a key element.
Jigme is 31 years old and works for Bhutan government’s holding company, Druk Holding & Investment Ltd.
When Jigme Dorji heard about Danida’s “Emerging leaders scholarship Program” offering a full time MBA at Arhus University in 2011 he was working as Branch Manager of Bhutan Development Bank in Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital.
Jigme Dorji had a Bachelors of Commerce from India. But for a while he had been looking into the possibility of further studies. He quickly applied.
The MBA course matched perfectly with what I had been looking for to advance my career. Besides I was curious to experience another country known for its happiness, Jigme Dorji says.
Similarities and differences of two happy nations
What triggered Jigme Dorji’s curiosity, were the possible differences and similarities between a happy developing country and a happy developed country. He quickly found that there were more similarities than differences.
Like Denmark, Bhutan provides universal free education and healthcare despite its tiny economy. The country can also pride itself of political stability, a young well educated population and clean and reliable electric power. Bhutan is also renowned for it’s focus on green energy and conservation of the environment. It absorbs three times more CO2 emissions than its 700,000 population produces making it a carbon negative country.
Even though Denmark is a developed country and Bhutan is a developing country we have a lot in common. We share many of the same values. In a way I believe it is these values that make us the happiest countries, Jigme Dorji.
He thinks that the predominant shared values of the two countries are the collective sense of social and environmental responsibility.
While in Denmark, Jigme Dorji was especially impressed by the Danish awareness of the environment. He experienced how the Danish policies to a certain extend favoured green consumption and that ordinary people on their own initiative tried to act responsible.
He also noticed how an industry like the windmill industry is built on the concern for the environment. With a passionate voice Jigme Dorji says that the shared environmental concern of the two countries may pave the way for increased business cooperation.
Like Denmark, Bhutan is very concerned not to destroy the environment and the livelihoods of its people. I can only imagine that there will be ample of opportunities for collaborations between the two countries on the environmental front in the future, he says.
Future successful business
After returning to Bhutan, Jigme Dorji continued working at Bhutan Development Bank for two years. He then moved on to Bhutan government’s holding company Druk Holding & Investments Ltd. He now works as Analyst in the Consulting Services Division providing management consulting services to Druk Holding’s 20 subsidiary companies.
The year in Denmark advanced my career. I could not have made the move without the MBA, Jigme says
Looking into the future he envisions himself as a CEO of a Bhutanese company with a clear holistic focus on social responsibility, sustainability and happiness.
I want to contribute to building my country and servicing my people and my King. I cannot see any better way to do it than running a successful business, Jigme Dorji says.
Nepal is one of the countries hardest hit by earthquakes. Nabin Joshi uses what he learnt in Denmark to build houses that remain standing when catastrophe strikes.
"I really believe in the power of innovation as a way of contributing to a positive and balanced evolution of the world" says Jaime Andrés Peña, Danida Alumni, sustainable development entrepreneur and team coordinator of the Danida Alumni Network Colombia.
Olman Segura-Bonilla, Danida alumni and former Cabinet Minister of Labor and Social Security of Costa Rica is a first mover and fierce believer in sustainable development economics. His impressive career and Costa Rica’s path of development are closely interlinked.
By applying a gendered lens and working within the multilateral forest governance framework of REDD+, Hao’s PhD explored the extent to which a local indigenous community in the Central Highlands had access to productive land such as wet rice fields, coffee land and forests.
It is a passion for science and a scientific approach to problem solving that has driven Moses Mukota throughout his academic and professional career. He completed his Danida Scholarship and the course ‘Water Sector Governance - the Danish Model’ in 2018.
Seth Aning started his financial career at Standard Chartered Bank in 2007. Four years later he left Accra to pursue an MBA at Copenhagen Business School - a decision that would not only accelerate Seth's career, but also alter his view of the corporate world and his role within it.
I believe that Africa’s fastest route to social and economic transformation is through entrepreneurship, says Patricia Jumi, Danida Alumni and Executive Director and founding partner of GrowthAfrica. Patricia Jumi holds an MBA from Copenhagen Business School, which she completed in 2007 after receiving a Danida Fellowship for one year.
When Hazem Hafez Ragab received an email that urged him to apply for a Danida Fellowship and a full-time MBA, he thought it was a hoax. But it was real, and the MBA made him realize that leadership starts with self-awareness.
Non-communicable diseases are rapidly spreading in Zanzibar as in the rest of the world. Danida alum Omar Mwalim uses his Danish connections to try to prevent a further escalation.
“We ought to mobilize homemade African science to inform long term, sustainable solutions to African problems”, says the internationally recognized scientist and Danida alumni, Cheikh Mbow. Two years ago, he became Executive Director of the Washington, D.C. based organisation START International.
The time I spent as Danida Fellow was so valuable. My first experience of universal health coverage was in Denmark, Dr Tedros Adhanom, WHO Director-General said in his acceptance speech for the Danida Alumni Prize 2017. The award ceremony was part of Danida Fellowship Centre's 25 years celebrations in Frederiksberg.
The recent war in Northern Uganda was all-encompassing destructive. To heal the wounds and move forward, Psychologist and Danida alumni Henry Oboke has created a small army of Village Helpers. They provide basic problem-solving therapy and help to self-help at household level.
The bi-annual Livia Peace Price 2016 was awarded to William Ongoro for acting bravely and wisely in the painful and violent conflicts of South Sudan.
Rich in taste and with a good sustainable story, TOMS EKSTRA chocolate plates were launched in Denmark in 2010. Meet one of the key experts behind the product: Ghanaian Margaret Owusu, PhD from University of Copenhagen.